Q: Our first grandchild was born this summer, and we are thrilled. Since we live at some distance, we didn't see him till the holidays. We were taken aback. His head is so long! No one in our family has a head like that. When I mentioned it to my daughter, she said she thought it was the way he sleeps. Should we do anything?A: Your description raises several possibilities. First, babies born early often have relatively long, narrow heads. We are assuming, however, that your grandson was not premature.

By Martin Weil and and Maggie Fazeli Fard, The Washington Post | August 5, 2013

From the banks of the Potomac River, in a region steeped in American history, a massive fossil was dug up last month that apparently can be traced back to a time long before this country's recorded history, a time deep in the world's prehistory. The fossil is the skull of a whale that is "approximately 15 million years old," said John Nance, the paleontology collections manager at the Calvert Marine Museum in Southern Maryland. The skull is about 6 feet long and is believed to weigh about 1,000 pounds.

The human skull found by two Baltimore County men Tuesday near the Liberty Reservoir is at the state medical examiner's office in Baltimore, where forensic pathologists will try to determine its identity.State police Trooper First Class John Wisniewski said yesterday that police are treating the area where the skull was found as "a crime scene," but he speculated that it will be difficult -- if not impossible -- to determine how the skull got to the patch of dirt near the reservoir in Eldersburg.

Judge Elsbeth Levy Bothe, a well-known former criminal defense attorney who served on the Baltimore Circuit Court for nearly two decades and had a taste for the macabre, died Wednesday at her Homeland residence of complications from a stroke she had suffered three weeks earlier. Judge Bothe was 85. "Elsbeth was always there for justice. She was fair, just, but could be very tough," said Ellen A. Callegary, who clerked for Judge Bothe in 1976 and was a founding partner of the Baltimore law firm of Callegary & Steedman.

What's a Mozart bicentennial celebration without a dispute about his death, burial and remains?Now comes Pierre-Francois Puech, a French anthropologist who says his study shows a skull held by the Salzburg Mozarteum since 1901 is definitely Mozart's. Puech says the skull shows a left temple fracture possibly resulting from a fall. Further, he says, the fracture caused a chronic hematoma (bleeding between brain and skull) that may have led to Mozart's previously documented headaches, weakness, fainting, coma and death 200 years ago Dec. 5.Not so fast, says Friedrich Gehmacher, president of the Mozarteum, which is the official home of archival materials and Mozart memorabilia.

A college student on a field trip with his introductory paleontology class has discovered a 5-foot-long skull from what is believed to be an 80-million-year-old horned dinosaur called a chasmosaurus.It is the only complete dinosaur skull ever found in Big Bend National Park in Texas and provides the best evidence that the chasmosaurus roamed what is now the southern United States. Most chasmosaurus fossils have been found in Wyoming and Canada.The student, Thomas Evans, a 21-year-old biology major at the University of Chicago, said he first noticed what turned out to be a piece of a horn poking up about 6 inches from the sediment.

Skulls and crossbones might sound like a good idea for millionaires with live-in stylists. But how can the rest of us pull off the trend without looking like a weirdo? The trick, fashion experts say, is to keep the macabre to a minimum. "It's an easy thing to incorporate into your wardrobe," says Dannielle Romano editor-at-large of DailyCandy.com. "Remember, we never dress in costume. It's done in a very playful way." That means pick one skull piece and wear that and that only. If you have a skull scarf tied around your neck, leave the skull earrings at home.

A 3-month-old West Baltimore boy was in critical conditio last night at the University of Maryland Medical Center with a fractured skull -- an injury that prompted an investigation by police of possible child abuse.Police said doctors found tissue damage to five fingertips, internal bleeding, hemorrhaging of the eyes and brain, a broken bone in each leg and a smashed left toe.In addition, police said, the doctors noted indications of five ribs having been broken previously and healed.Police spokesman Sam Ringgold said the infant's parents took him to Mercy Medical Center on Saturday.

NORFOLK, Va. -- Shortly after Nat Turner led a slave revolt that killed nearly 60 white Southside residents in 1831, his head was chopped off and carted away for study. His captors hoped that it would offer clues to his motives and to what many thought to be the Southampton County man's exceptional intelligence. But the answers never came. Turner's skull disappeared somewhere along the way, creating another twist in the story of a man who was either a ruthless murderer or a courageous liberator.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating the discovery of human remains found in a wooded area near Spring Road and Whiskey Bottom Road in Laurel. Police said they were called to the scene Feb. 24 at noon to meet with a citizen who reported finding the suspected human remains. The man told police that he and his girlfriend had been bird watching and hiking when they came upon what appeared to be a human skull. The remains were recovered and transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, and on Tuesday police said the skull had been confirmed as human.

Men's college lacrosse Ex-Jay Daniello won't play for Syracuse this season Syracuse sophomore attackman Mike Daniello , who transferred from Johns Hopkins during the summer, will take a "medical leave of absence" and not play this season after suffering a skull fracture late last month, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported. Coach John Desko said at the Orange's media day Jan. 8 that Daniello was out of the hospital and doing better. Syracuse has not revealed what caused his injury, which was was accompanied by a brain contusion, but did say that it was unrelated to lacrosse.

Syracuse sophomore Mike Daniello, who spent last season with Johns Hopkins before transferring, is reportedly recovering from serious head injuries suffered last week. Daniello was involved in an incident that left him with a fractured skull and a brain contusion, according to multiple sources. The nature of the incident is still unknown. Syracuse officials confirmed that Daniello was still being hospitalized as of Sunday but had no update on his condition at that point. The younger brother of Chris, a third-team All-American who helped the Orange to national titles in 2008 and 2009, and Nick, who played defense and long-stick midfielder at Stevens Tech, Mike Daniello played for the Blue Jays in 2012, appearing in eight games with three shots and one ground ball.

A 32-year-old man is in critical condition after being attacked in the middle of the day on a downtown Baltimore street, according to his family and police. John Mason has been hospitalized since Friday in an induced coma with three skull fractures as a result of the attack, which police believe occurred at about 2 p.m. on Friday at Lombard and Howard streets, near the Bromo Seltzer tower. Mason's aunt, Christina Jasi, said he had shoe prints bruised into his head. Police said that witnesses said Mason was attacked by a group of four to five males.

After a seven-month hiatus, Real Championship Wrestling makes its return to the Du Burns Arena with RCW Reloaded on Saturday. RCW, an independent wrestling promotion based in Baltimore, was formed in June 2009 by Brad Vance and several wrestling talents, including Ruckus, Derek Frazier and others from Maryland. The company hosted its first show - “The Takeover” - June 14, 2009. Since then, RCW has become a tour de force in Maryland and in East Coast independent wrestling, with names such as The Briscoe Brothers, The Osirian Portal, Shiima Zion (TNA's Zima Ion)

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be acquainted, another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: DOLICHOCEPHALIC There are classifications for noggins, but the basic one is whether yours is long or wide. If you have a long head,a skull with a breadth that it less than 75 or 80 percent of its length, you are dolichocephalic (dahl-uh-koh-suh-FAL-ik)

The first reasonably complete skull of the earliest recognized human ancestors after the split-off from the great apes has been found near the bank of a dry riverbed in Ethiopia's arid badlands.The skull, with its apelike heavy brow, jutting jaw and small brain case, is apparently that of a large male who lived 3 million years ago.The remarkable find, which fills a serious gap in understanding early human evolution, gives a face to the species first identified and made famous by the discovery in 1974 of the headless "Lucy" skeleton.

Two South River High School students found a human skull in the woods about 75 yards behind the school football field Monday, county police said yesterday.The skull and jaw, which was found lying about three feet away, were sent to the state medical examiner's office for possible identification, said Capt. Michael Fitzgibbons, commander of the Criminal Investigation Division.He said doctors may be able to use the teeth remaining in the skull to compare with dental records for identification.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating the discovery of a body in the woods in Pasadena, police said Tuesday. Police said a man told them Monday afternoon that he was walking into the wood line when he saw what appeared to be a human skull. A team that included investigators and volunteers from Chesapeake Search Dogs and the Mason Dixon Search and Rescue Dogs Inc. then searched the woods behind the 8100 block of Ritchie Highway. Police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said the other remains were found after a search that lasted "a number of hours.

A hiker in Carroll Park, north of West Baltimore Street in the city, discovered a human skull Tuesday. The hiker, who had entered the park near the 3100 block of Phelps Lane at about 2:30 p.m., immediately called police and guided officers to the site. No other remains were found at the location, police said. The skull was taken to the Office of the Medical Examiner for forensic tests. Mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com